Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Has Added A Battle Royale Mode

It was bound to happen sooner or later, but thankfully (for fans of Counter-Strike) the addition of the Battle Royale mode has happened much sooner than expected for the first-person shooter. Valve announced that Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has now officially stepped into the arena to rival Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds.

Valve sent out a short and sweet message about the new mode, which is dubbed Danger Zone, for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. The new mode also accompanies the game's transition into a full free-to-play title. According to the press release, the next time anyone logs into the game, the update will automatically commence, the files will be altered, and the game will be free-to-play. All accounts that already have access to the game will also automatically be upgraded to Prime Status, completely free of charge.

For neophytes, if you have not downloaded the game before or registered an account with the game, you will have the option to try out the free-to-play account or you will be able to lob some actual money into Valve's coffers for $14.99 to upgrade to a Prime Status account.

Not only that, but you'll also gain access to the brand new Danger Zone mode, which enables the ability to play Last Man Standing against 17 other players.

No, the game does not sport the 100 player Battle Royale mode like its nearest competitors PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or Fortnite. Instead it's a lot closer to the Battle Royale mode featured in Warface, where there are just over a dozen other players in the map that you have to whittle down in order to become the winner of the round.

Over on the Danger Zone web portal, there's a breakdown of how the game mode works. You drop down into the map, you can either scour for weapons or order what you need using the personal tablet device, and then you can either run to safety or track down your foes and finish them off.

Now there are multiple ways to earn points in the mode. Unlike other Battle Royale games like The Culling or Island of Nyne where you kill your foes to earn points, you can also earn points by rescuing hostages located around the Danger Zone map in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Barring that, you can find locked safes throughout the map that you can blow open using C4 charges.

According to the website, what's in the Danger Zone mode at the moment is just the start. Hopefully, Valve takes tips from Treyarch and what that team did with Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 by starting out with a lower player count for the Battle Royale mode and then slowly ratcheting up the number until they hit 100. It would be pretty cool if Valve did the same for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

For now, though, you can check the game out and dive into the various game modes and features now that it's free-to-play. For those of you who were bored with the standard modes, you can check out the Danger Zone mode as a solo survivor, as a team, or as a trio in three different variations of the mode.